Shishida blinked, his ear twitching as he heard the stiff steps of Iida leaving.
Something odd in his steps that almost made Shishida want to turn his head in some vein hope to see if he could spot what had caused Iida to be so stiff in his moments.
He wouldn't be able to see him, he could hear that Iida was well out of his range of sight.
The spike of fear from Iida's scent though was clear to him however and he sniffed the air a little more.
Kaminari's despair and fear had long faded to the background, the mixture of scents from the girls comforting him still lingered though the group of them had left for the dorms a few minutes ago.
Still hints of Kamakiri from a corner due to his annoyance.
The anxiousness of Shinsou as he sat with the equally anxious Kirishima were still strong, as was the bitter resignment of the Todoroki boy and the slight sweetness of Sato from their sister class.
But nothing that would make sense to frighten Iida for whatever reason.
Shishida would think about it more, but Deku-Sensei called for him.
"Jurota, I'd like to talk to you next, do you feel up to that?"
A slight twinge of anxiety to his scent.
Deku-Sensei was likely worried about the fact he'd just had his blood taken, and while most people would likely be woozy afterwards, Shishida was not one of those people.
One of the benefits of being on the larger side was how little one loses for a decent sized sample.
"Of course, Deku-Sensei, I am okay to talk." Shishida replied.
Confidently walking over to where the room was, the smell of Deku-Sensei helping him know where the doorway was and the sound of his footsteps allowing him to better gauge what was beyond his field of vision.
Shishida ducked his head reflexively, far too used to how short most doorways were, even though the door was large enough for him to just walk though it without ducking down.
"There's a pair of chairs about eight meters in front of you, feel free to take whichever one you want to use." Deku-Sensei mentioned after closing the door behind him.
Shishida nodded, he could smell where the chairs were just fine, but he was glad that Deku-Sensei was merely informing him of where the chairs were and not trying to guide him over instead.
It was a nice gesture that wasn't trying to overstep.
Shishida walked over and took the chair that had Deku-Sensei's scent the strongest, likely the chair he'd been using for the majority of the sessions.
The other had a rather confusing mix of scents from the ten people who'd been in before and he wouldn't be able to concentrate if he sat in the other chair.
Deku-Sensei hadn't seemed to mind him taking his chair, sitting in the other one without any complaint.
And for the first time, Shishida was able to see what Deku-Sensei looked like clearly.
The green blur now fluffy, almost bush-like hair that sat on his teacher's head, black freckles he hadn't known about before sat on each cheek.
His teacher looked as young as he sounded, younger actually since he had originally thought that maybe he'd look a bit older, perhaps college age at the youngest, but Shishida wasn't sure that Deku-Sensei was much older than he was.
"How are you doing Jurota? I know that moving can be very overwhelming." Deku-Sensei asked, his green eyes looking up and meeting his despite the stain it would likely give Deku-Sensei's neck tilting his head like that.
"It has been difficult, I admit," Shishida confessed, rubbing his arm, careful to not make any tears with his claws since they still didn't want to retract themselves.
"I've been able to navigate myself in spite of all of the new sensory information of the campus and my classmates, but it will likely take me a few weeks before I truly am fully adjusted to everything." Shishida further explained.
Deku-Sensei nodded, his face completely empathetic over what he revealed, matching his scent surprisingly.
"With your senses being as advanced as they are, I could only imagine just how abrasive this could be." Deku-Sensei said shaking his head.
"Please do take a minute to de-compress whenever you need, all of the teachers are willing to provide copies of their lectures if you need one." Deku-Sensei assured him.
"Thank you, Deku-Sensei, I will likely need to make use of that for the first week or so." Shishida told him.
He wasn't sure how well he'd be able to concentrate in the classroom, a week was usually his adjustment period but moving might throw that off.
Still having the option of a copy of their lessons would be helpful for him.
"No one would blame you if it takes longer than that Jurota." Deku-Sensei replied then opened up a notebook.
"Now, how about we talk about your quirk? I believe that your 'Beast' is a mix of traits from various animals, namely the Kodiak bear and echidna from your father and mother's quirks respectively, correct?" Deku-Sensei asked before turning his eyes back to him.
"You are correct, my main traits come from them, though I have retractable claws from my paternal grandmother whom had a puma quirk and skeleton structure closer to an ape from my great-grandmother on my mother's side." Shishida answered offering his hand for his teacher to examine.
Deku-Sensei set aside his book and carefully looked over Shishida's large hand with his two smaller ones.
Curiosity concealed by the coconut shampoo he used at first, but the way his green eyes lit up made it rather obvious.
His palm was sensitive to touch despite the thick skin of his hands and fur, so he was perfectly capable of feeling each soft press of Deku-Sensei's fingers, allowing his teacher to have a better idea of his hand bones.
Even pushing on the pressure point of his claws, forcing his claw to jut out more.
"That is fascinating… it's rare for animal mutations to not have a main animal it takes from, and to mix so much that the species of which build the quirk aren't clear is also uncommon." Deku-Sensei said, letting go of his hand and writing something down in his book.
Deku-Sensei's curious and eager scent was tampered down, his teacher trying to keep up his professional air Shishida guessed.
"Your fur is thick but oddly stiff, does your mother's echidna quirk play into that?" Deku-Sensei guessed.
"Indeed, there were times when we expected my fur would harden and become spiked like my mother, it wasn't to be though. However, it does offer some protection with how thick and stiff it is." Shishida confirmed.
It wouldn't stop a bullet, but a knife would certainly have a harder time of piercing his skin.
"I can recommend some fur care products that would work best with your fur to maintain it." Deku-sensei offered.
"I'm happy with my current products Deku-Sensei." Shishida turned down.
"Perfectly fine, what can you tell me about your thermal regulation? Bears and echidnas are both known for hibernating, but I wouldn't want to assume." Deku-Sensei inquired, not upset by Shishida turning him down.
"I have more resistance than my parents, but I can still fall into a hibernation state if I'm cold for too long, usually if I'm in negative numbers for too long, say minus six Celsius for more than an hour I will start falling asleep." Shishida answered.
Deku-Sensei nodded and wrote that down.
"We'll keep an eye out for that during winter hero exercises," he commented.
"But I am more worried about your, 'beast mode' Jurota." Deku-Sensei brought up.
"How so?" Shishida asked.
"Well, while the 'rage mode' has been popularized by pre-quirk and post Dawning media it isn't a common trait and usually a sign of something being wrong, likely a deficiency of some sort." Deku-Sensei explained.
"Is that so?" Shishida replied.
"Sadly yes, there are exceptions especially if they use outside influences to stimulate a state but in your case where you are 'transforming' then you shouldn't be losing your consciousness unless there is something else at play." Deku-Sensei explained.
"Ryukyu, for example can grow well over ten times her default mass without losing her consciousness since she eats very large meals multiple times a day." Deku-Sensei pointed out.
Shishida supposed he couldn't argue with that.
But he'd always ensured to have a balanced diet, getting in plenty of fruits and veggies and some prey as well to vary up his meat.
What could he be lacking that would cause him to act mindlessly?
Or was it even a diet issue in the first place?
"Would you have any ideas for what I could be causing my issue Deku-Sensei?" Shishida inquired.
"Your blood test will help narrow it down, but I suspect that it might be a lack of prey in your case." Deku-Sensei answered.
A small weight planted itself in his stomach.
"A lack of prey? I try to eat prey at least three times a week." Shishida told him, trying not to let his voice waver.
"Which would be fine if you just had a bear-based quirk, bears are omnivores and don't eat prey often. But echidnas are strictly obligate carnivores, specifically insectivores which might have you leaning more towards a mesocarnivore yourself." Deku-Sensei explained.
"Mesocarnivore?" Shishida repeated, the term not unfamiliar to him but he could not recall that exact definition.
"Carnivores can be defined by how much meat they eat, obligate carnivores need to eat enough meat for it to be at least seventy percent of their diet. Mesocarnivores on the other hand range from thirty to seventy percent of their diet to be meat." Deku-Sensei informed him readily.
"So, can you tell me more about exactly which prey items you eat and how much per meal?" Deku-Sensei questioned.
"A rabbit if I'm feeling dead prey, a couple of steaks or meat slabs usually though when I cook it instead." Shishida answered.
Deku-Sensei blinked, slightly taken aback.
"That is, most certainly not nearly enough for someone of your size as even an omnivore, much less a mesocarnivore carnivore which you most likely are." Deku-Sensei replied, concern raising.
"Ah, I will try to correct that Deku-Sensei." Shishida promised looking away, slightly embarrassed.
"Have you've not felt cravings for more meat or prey than that Jurota?" Deku-Sensei asked concerned.
Shishida ducked his head that time.
"Yes, but I've tried not to indulge too much." He ruefully told Deku-Sensei.
"It's not indulgence to take care of your needs at the most basic level, your need for prey as a carnivore is completely natural and not something you should feel ashamed of." Deku-Sensei softly told him.
Shishida grimaced.
It was not that simple.
Shishida had towered over the rest of the people his age, with fangs and claws he couldn't always retract when he was younger.
Add in his thick fur that made most uniforms uncomfortable and his near blind fumbling around and strength it was no wonder people used to… shy away from him.
Their words were even harder to miss with hearing like his own.
The teachers' comments when he brought either meat or prey in did not help.
He hated how often he'd go home smelling of his classmates' fear.
It was nice that his new classmates were not so bothered by his appearance, and he wasn't even the tallest person in class for once, it was refreshing even.
But how long would that last if he started eating a lot of prey? Especially with someone like Koda whose quirk was clearly linked with animals? And he knew most of the class was disturbed when the idea of prey was brought up by Deku-Sensei earlier.
Having the pungent smell of fear coating another of his classrooms would be bad enough, but to live with it as well in the dorm?
"Jurota," Deku-Sensei called, bringing his attention back to his teacher.
"Your health should never be dictated by the opinions of anyone outside of the medical profession." Deku-Sensei sternly told him.
"And I will not stand for anyone giving you trouble for that, not your peers, nor the staff." Deku-Sensei firmly told him.
Protective anger that waffled off Deku-Sensei wasn't subtle in the least.
Still Shishida couldn't help the anxiety over the prospect of eating more prey around his classmates.
Even if they tried to be understanding about his diet he would still be forced to smell exactly how uncomfortable or disgusted they were going to be watching him devouring prey.
"Could I just be missing meat in my diet and not prey specifically, Deku-Sensei?" Shishida asked.
"Possibly," Deku-Sensei said the protectiveness becoming conflicted.
"But given there is a definite change not only in your muscle mass, but lengthening of your bones to give you a big size over all, your quirk likely needs more than the proteins in meat." Deku-Sensei further explained.
"The blood test will probably confirm you'll need the calcium and maybe even the keratin found in fur for your own coat to be at its most effective." Deku-Sensei told him.
Shishida exhaled deeply after hearing that.
There would be no avoiding it then, he would just have to endure the reactions of his classmates and the possible isolation that will probably result from it.
"Jurota," Deku-Sensei said, once again getting his attention.
"I understand that you are afraid of how your classmates will react, most of them will have never been exposed to someone eating prey in front of them." Deku-Sensei conceded.
"But I think that you'll be surprised just how accepting that your classmates will be, and how quickly people can get used to things when they're trying." Deku-Sensei said, certainty in his tone.
Shishida wished he could believe his teacher, but after so many years of dealing with his peers very specific disgust with that aspect of himself he couldn't entirely bring himself to hope for that.
"I'll try Deku-Sensei." Shishida promised.
Deku-Sensei clearly could see his lack of conviction, but didn't chose to press the matter either.
"That's all I want for you to do Jurota. I'll speak with Sato next, do you feel like you can find your way back to the dorms on your own?" Deku-Sensei asked.
Oh, Shishida hadn't thought of that before.
He could maybe follow his classmates' scents on the path back to the dorms, but they'd be drowned out by all of the unfamiliar foot-traffic and he hadn't memorized the landmark scents either.
"No, I do not think I can find my way back on my own." Shishida admitted rubbing his arm.
Deku-Sensei hummed.
"Can I see your phone Jurota?" Deku-Sensei requested holding out his hand.
Shishida dug his phone out of his pocket, it was a larger model with actual buttons that had braille on them as well.
Deku-Sensei took his phone and looked it over for a minute before he got to work pressing the buttons.
After a few minutes Deku-Sensei nodded to himself rather happy with his work and returned his phone.
"I brought up the map from the student portal and set your destination as the dorms, just press 'okay' and it will start giving you directions back out loud." Deku-Sensei explained, greatly surprising him.
"Oh, thank you Deku-Sensei." Shishida told his teacher.
He had thought that Deku-Sensei would have asked for Kirishima to walk him back or for him to wait until he finished with Shinsou so he could be escorted back by his classmates, he'd also had staff be asked to come and walk him back as well.
Having a teacher trust him to find his own way back with minimal aid was… nice.
"It's not a problem Jurota, thank you for talking with me today, I'll inform you of when your next appointment is after talking with Recovery Girl." Deku-Sensei replied with a smile.
"Please send Sato in while you leave." Deku-Sensei requested.
"Of course, Deku-Sensei." Shishida responded, standing up and walking out of the small room.
Rikido was fairly certain of why he was asked to come.
It wasn't the first time someone had concerns because his diet had to be so specific with his quirk being what it was.
He couldn't have any sugar outside of natural ones or his body would react to it, his quirk triggered immediately and involuntarily.
Sure, it meant he was healthier than most kids his age, but it also meant he needed to be more careful in planning his meals and what he was buying unless he wanted to end up sending his body into fight-or-flight mode.
Rikido supposed he should just be glad that humans didn't need sugar like they needed water or vitamin B.
At least Rikido would have some idea of what he'd talk about with Deku-Sensei, and was able to assure himself of where that conversation would go.
Moving in at least was going well and he already had his personal mini-oven all set up and ready for him to use.
Though he'd probably use the ovens down in the kitchen for the snacks he planned to make for the rest of his class.
At least his stress baking wouldn't go to waste with all of his classmates to split them, though he might also make a second batch to send over with Awase to 1-A.
The boy had been pretty friendly and mentioned that he'd be visiting his friends in their sister class for dinner.
Class rivalries were common, but Rikido would rather not deal with that, especially with how Monoma seemed determined to kick one up, but sharing the sweets he made at least semi-regularly would probably be a great way to soothe any frayed nerves.
If not foster some sort of comradery between the two classes, who knows maybe they can even have a big Sunday potluck on occasion.
He'd need to ask the teachers though if that would be okay since that sort of thing would need a lot of prep beforehand.
And they'd need to make a list of everyone's allergies or dietary needs too.
Jurota, the large furry guy from 1-A walked out of the small room and after looking around some, walked over to him and he guessed that he looked down to him.
It was hard to tell exactly since Jurota wore those thick sunglasses that made it impossible to see the eyes of the person wearing them.
"Sato-San, Deku-Sensei wished to speak with you next." Jurota politely told him.
"Thank you, Jurota-San." Rikido replied with a slight nod, moving to go and see Deku-Sensei himself.
Rikido out of habit gave the door a light knock before stepping in the room.
Deku-Sensei sat waiting in one of two chairs, notebook in hand.
"Good afternoon, Sato, how are you doing?" Deku-Sensei asked motioning for him to come over.
"I'm doing alright Deku-Sensei," Rikido answered after he sat himself down in the chair opposite of the teacher "Moving hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be." He added his hands fidgeting some.
"That's good to hear, would you like anything to drink?" Deku-Sensei offered.
"Some water would be nice." Rikido told him, and Deku-Sensei stood and got him a bottle of water from somewhere behind him, Rikido hadn't been able to turn his head enough to see where exactly the bottle came from.
He suspected a mini-fridge though given the bottle was cold.
"So, do you have any ideas of why I wanted to talk to you today?" Deku-Sensei inquired as he sat back down.
"Mostly, basically about my diet, right?" Rikido replied and Deku-Sensei nodded.
"Yes, most of my questions will be focused there given how your quirk works." Deku-Sensei confirmed before flipping through the notebook.
"Your family gave us very good medical records, including your allergies to sugar substitutes," Deku-Sensei said as his eyes went over one page.
"There are likely a few you haven't tried still but I believe according to the results of your last scratch test it would be unwise to use anything other than sugar cane for when you need to use your quirk." Deku-Sensei stated.
Rikido nodded, the conclusion not a new one, though a bit disappointing all the same.
"Now from what I've read your body can only safely process natural sugars, bar sugar cane, without triggering your quirk, given how low those levels usually are I doubt you'll ever reach a point where they cause you any problems." Deku-Sensei commented, lightly waving his hand.
"But I am worried about how your currently using sugar might have negative effects later in life." Deku-Sensei told him.
"Like diabetes?" Rikido guessed, it was a concern that came up a few times before, mainly because his mom's quirk was a fruit-bat and needed a lot of sugar compared to most people.
"Well no, you're not eating enough sugar for that, and your body clearly processes sugar entirely differently to the majority of people." Deku-Sensei answered.
"What I'm concerned about is overuse causing an increased tolerance, which could maybe lead to diabetes becoming a possible issue later in life now that I think about it." Deku-Sensei explained.
"Overuse?" Rikido said a bit confused.
"Humans are very adaptable, the evolution of quirks has lowered that adaptability, but most people still have that, think about it like going into a hot tub after being in a regular pool." Deku-Sensei replied.
"Eventually you become used to the new temperature, the same could be said for you and sugar by using the same amount of sugar each time could lead to your body growing used to it to the point that your quirk won't react to it the same way." Deku-Sensei further elaborated.
"Either your body would come down from the sugar faster, or it will take more and more sugar to actually trigger your quirk in the first place." Deku-Sensei forewarned.
"Oh," Rikido muttered.
He hadn't thought of that before, it would easily become a problem though if that did happen.
"What exactly could we do about it though?" Rikido asked.
"We can try to limit the amount of sugar you use per time, but the best thing that we could do would be to keep your sugar intake infrequent." Deku-Sensei answered.
"Maybe only twice a month if that." He added.
Rikido was stunned, sure he didn't use his quirk as much as the average person since he needed to eat sugar for it, but he would have assumed that he'd be using his quirk more often than that.
Perhaps seeing his confusion, Deku-Sensei continued to explain.
"Your current strength is well beyond the average so in most cases you will not require you to use your quirk, and even then, there can be ways we can mitigate the damage." Deku-Sensei informed him.
"Including helping you learn how to use weapons or perhaps working with a partner who could help compliment you in the field and cover your weak spots." Deku-Sensei purposed.
Rikido blinked, thinking over both ideas.
He knew that weapons training would probably be wise but couldn't see himself using them actively, having always planned to be an unarmed grappler and using his Nana's old moves.
Having a partner though was something that he was kind of interested in.
Teams or partners were rare, but he wouldn't mind working with someone all that much, it would probably just take a while to find someone that would mesh with him well enough along with being compatible in the field.
"I think I'll probably lean more towards having a partner personally." Rikido said.
"You'll have plenty of time to think it over and we can help you find a decent partner if that's what you want in the future." Deku-Sensei assured him.
"On a different note about your diet, have you ever eaten raw sugar cane or just refined sugar?" Deku-Sensei inquired.
"Um, no?" Rikido replied, surprised he'd been asked that.
"How would you feel about trying raw sugar cane and sugar cane leaves?" Deku-Sensei asked.
"I mean I guess I wouldn't mind, but why do you want to test that?" Rikido questioned, a touch confused, cause wouldn't that have the same effect as the sugar packets he used.
"Well, I think that will allow you to tap into your quirk without it having such an extreme reaction, letting you fortify your body and increase your strength to a degree without taking away as much of your cognition." Deku-Sensei brought up.
"Really?" Rikido said surprised.
Deku-Sensei nodded.
"Sugar is a ground up and technically refined or concentrated version of sugar cane, so it's possible for you to not have nearly as strong as a reaction when eating the raw and unprocessed version." Deku-Sensei explained to him.
Huh, that actually made some sense.
At the very least he wouldn't expect a bad reaction, he wouldn't have an allergic reaction like he did to the artificial sweeteners
"Okay, I think I'd like to see how that would go." Rikido told Deku-Sensei finding himself wondering how that would turn out.
"I'll arrange with Aizawa-San for when we can test that, I also want to have your vitals monitored while taking sugar so that we can see exactly what your body does under the influence." Deku-Sensei replied.
"You clearly become stronger, and you have more endurance, but I think that it would be for the best that we see what specifically happens, especially to your brain since sugar does affect it." Deku-Sensei elaborated.
"Oh, yeah that would be important to know, especially if you can tell me what is happening to my brain when I eat sugar." Rikido said nodding along.
"As a soft guess, I think we'll likely see a lot of activity in your amygdala. Given that your body is effectively in fight-or-flight mode once you have sugar, it would also play into why your cognition is lowered as the adrenaline might be pumped in as well." Deku-Sensei suggested.
Rikido considered that sort of made sense though he didn't know what an amygdala was.
Probably a part of the brain but he'd probably need to look it up online to know what it did.
"Um, sure. Is there anything else we should talk about Deku-Sensei?" Rikido asked.
"Well, I've covered all the things that we needed to go over, but are there any things you wanted to talk about before leaving?" Deku-Sensei questioned, his head tilted slightly.
The idea of the pot luck came up, as did the idea of sharing his baking semi regularly.
"Uh, I do have a question, but it isn't related to my quirk, more about the dorms." Rikido admitted.
Deku-Sensei blinked.
"Sure, what's your question Sato?" Deku-Sensei replied, surprisingly willing to answer.
Rikido hands fidgeted more and he looked down to them.
"Well one of my classmates, Awase, said he'd be going over for dinner with his friends at 1-A and I was thinking about sending over some of my baking with him and I wasn't sure if that would be okay or not." Rikido explained.
Deku-Sensei merely smiled and chuckled.
"That would be more than okay, though if your baking is anything like your aunt's then I expect you'll get a lot of fans pretty quickly." Deku-Sensei told him.
Rikido looked at him surprised, his mouth opening then closing once before he could ask.
"You know one of my aunts?"
Deku-Sensei blinked then flushed as if embarrassed and scratched at his cheek with a single finger.
"Sorry yes I do, my mom and aunt are friends with and buy from your aunt Magne, and Magne has been very proud of you and talked of you coming to U.A." Deku-Sensei bashfully explained, slightly nervous.
"Oh." Rikido muttered a bit red himself now.
He wasn't as close to aunt Maggy since she'd hadn't been around since he was a baby like the rest of his dad's siblings, but that didn't change the fact of her maybe bragging about him to her customers and friends was a little embarrassing to know.
But not the bad kind, well fully bad since it was nice to know even without the bias of watching him grow up his Aunt Maggy still thought he'd done something worth bragging about.
Deku-Sensei coughed into his hand.
"Well, if you want to have enough time to bake anything it'll be best for you to leave soon." Deku-Sensei brought up.
"Yeah, you're probably right, do you want me to send anyone in before I go?" Rikido asked as he stood up.
"No, I think it'll be best for me to ask myself. You can go ahead and head back to the dorms." Deku-Sensei turned him down as he stood up himself.
"Alright, I'll see you later." Rikido said before leaving the room.
"Until then." Deku-Sensei replied with a nod.
Hitoshi tried to focus on teaching Kirishima the signs that were most important.
Things like 'help me', 'danger', 'quiet', 'runaway', along with directions such as 'left' or 'up'.
Stuff that would either be helpful in the field when they couldn't talk, or so that Kirishima could understand it if someone used sign to ask him for help.
But his hands were shaky.
His nerves too shot from waiting for his turn to speak with Deku-Sensei to actually make the signs as clearly as Kirishima would need to understand them.
Kirishima didn't say anything about it though, merely watching and trying his best to mimic his hand movements.
It was hard though, Kirishima's hands were pretty inflexible and that made it hard to follow along or correctly sign the words.
He was trying though and could at least understand finger-spelling and some rough conversation so long as Hitoshi didn't move his hands too fast.
It… helped, having Kirishima here as much as he acted like Kirishima was being overly clingy and annoying it helped.
He couldn't remember a time where someone was so damn invested in him and his comfort before Kirishima decided to stick around him.
Atsushi tried, but he was always away for school in a different hemisphere.
Kirishima though was just there.
As soon as he had Hitoshi's number there were calls and texts, Hitoshi didn't even need to send anything back, there were hour long calls between them where only Kirishima spoke.
He was good at rambling to fill the silence between them.
It felt selfish of him at times, for him to just soak up all of Kirishima's time and energy without giving the guy so much as a word in return.
He hadn't even wanted to be friends with Kirishima in the beginning, so sure that Kirishima would lose interest when Hitoshi didn't even acknowledge him, or would stop trying so hard when Hitoshi told him of his quirk.
But again, as he often concluded in his mind, Kirishima was more like a puppy in a guy's body and only seemed to see the supposed benefits of his quirk, without the many horrors his quirk was possible of doing even occurring to him, the ones everyone else readily assumed him capable of at the drop of a hat.
Sometimes it was infuriating how positive and cheerful Kirishima was.
It made him almost ask questions in his mind he hadn't ever wanted to wonder, things he stopped asking himself years ago.
Why could his parents not be as accepting as this random person was?
Couldn't they love him in spite of his quirk like Atsushi did?
What did Kirishima see in him that everyone else, even his family, couldn't or wouldn't?
"Shinsou," someone called startling him out of his thoughts and snapped his head to the person that spoke.
"Hi Deku-Sensei!" Kirishima warmly greeted the man who was standing in front of them now.
"Time for Shinsou to go in now?" Kirishima guessed, rubbing the back of his neck, betraying some of Kirishima's own nerves.
Deku-Sensei nodded.
"Yes, I'd like to speak with you Shinsou, are you ready?" Deku-Sensei asked looking to him after answering Kirishima's initial question.
No, no he was very much not ready to talk with him about his quirk, If Hitoshi had it his way then he'd be back at the dorms putting together his room.
However, he just nodded his head with his jaw clenched.
"Okay, would you like for Kirishima to come with, or do you want to speak with me alone?" Deku-Sensei offered.
Hitoshi hesitated looking down, biting his lip.
On one hand he wanted Kirishima in there even if he had to hear about all the nitty-gritty little details of his quirk, it would also be harder for anyone to accuse him of anything should he have a witness.
It was something that Hitoshi was very used to in his 'quirk' sessions, his previous counselors only seeing him if they had a second person in the room with them.
So, frankly it should have been weird that Deku-Sensei offered to let Hitoshi speak to him alone, like he didn't expect Hitoshi to use his quirk on him.
But now that the option was given to him, Hitoshi couldn't say it wasn't the most tempting one.
Maybe he wanted to keep Kirishima in denial of his quirk, or to take the offer of privacy which was so rarely given to him, like he was trusted not to use his quirk on his teacher for his own gain.
Still, he would likely stick to just using his phone to answer any questions Deku-Sensei had, he didn't think there would be many, his previous sessions were always quick, and it was clear they didn't wish to speak with him for long.
Hitoshi brought up his hands and spelled out 'A-L-O-N-E' for Kirishima to tell Deku-Sensei, Kirishima carefully watching and mouthing the letters.
"Shinsou doesn't want me in there Deku-Sensei, do you know JSL?" Kirishima told him, asking the question with less concern than he usually would ask.
"Certified actually, I will be able to understand whatever you say if you don't wish to speak with your voice. Most if not all of the staff here know JSL so you don't have to worry about being unheard." Deku-Sensei answered.
Well, that was nice to know and explained why Deku-Sensei felt comfortable speaking with him by himself if they just spoke with their hands.
"Ready Shinsou?" Deku-Sensei asked softly.
Like he had a choice? They were going to talk at some point so he might as well get it over with now instead of stewing in it.
Hitoshi stood up and walked with Deku-Sensei, whom he only now realized was shorter than him, into the small room that Deku-Sensei had been using.
It wasn't the typical counseling room on the other side of the door, not if the shoved aside cot was anything to go by and the lack of any stuff to look like an actual office.
Deku-Sensei settled himself in one of the two chairs and patiently waited for Hitoshi to take his seat across from him.
"How are you doing Shinsou? Need anything to drink or eat?" Deku-Sensei asked.
Hitoshi shook his head.
He could do with something to drink but he'd just get something with Kirishima later once they were done.
"Alright, do you know or have any ideas about why I asked you to come in today?" Deku-Sensei inquired now holding the notebook Hitoshi saw him writing in earlier.
Hitoshi was tempted to scoff, but merely shook his head again, lying despite knowing there wasn't much Deku-Sensei could want to talk to him about.
Deku-Sensei had surprisingly backed him earlier when he used his quirk in class but severely doubted that courtesy of defending him would be carried over to the dorms and outside of class as well.
Deku-Sensei nodded, as if expecting that answer and Hitoshi prepared himself for the typical rules to be laid out for him.
No using his voice for questions, no speaking if he could help it, and to probably stay away from the girls in particular unless he wanted to live up to the villainous reputation his quirk came with.
Instead, Deku-Sensei softly asked.
"Shinsou, what do you know about hypnosis?"
Hitoshi blinked, his mouth parting to speak before he clenched his jaw shut, the instinct to speak instead of using his hands having never taken from him despite all of the years he'd been muzzled.
He hadn't corrected himself fast enough though judging from the way Deku-Sensei's eyes went to his lips for a second.
'Not much, I know it's used in therapy sometimes but most people think it's bogus from what I've heard.' Hitoshi replied.
"You're right that it is used for therapeutic purposes, however I'm bringing it up because I have strong reason to believe your quirk was severely misidentified." Deku-Sensei informed him.
Hitoshi couldn't stop himself from scoffing that time.
'With a single word I strip people of their autonomy and make them my puppets, I'm pretty sure that's what brainwashing is Sensei.' Hitoshi signed back.
Deku-Sensei took a deep breath before he continued to speak.
"Brainwashing, is a term that is very loosely thrown around and often confused for being interchangeable with hypnosis, but the two are very different in practice." Deku-Sensei stated.
"Shinsou, what is the longest you've had control over someone?" Deku-Sensei asked.
'An hour.' Hitoshi answered, Atsushi asked him to help him do the house chores and he'd used his quirk to order his brother to finish each of the chores Atsushi listed for him to do.
"Have you ever left any lingering effects on someone? Say asked someone to speak in a foreign language for a day and they did so once released from your direct control." Deku-Sensei pressed.
Hitoshi's face screwed up and he shook his head.
'No, once they're released all control I have is gone.' Hitoshi answered.
"How about planting suggestions? Repeatedly telling someone that they like a food they disliked before, or telling someone to wear a specific color the next day and they did." Deku-Sensei said next.
Hitoshi shook his head again.
Atsushi also asked him to try that, but his brother still couldn't stand green peppers no matter how many times he 'planted' the idea.
"So, you only have control of a person after they reply to your voice, and as soon as they bump into something or are shaken you lose any and all control you had over them?" Deku-Sensei asked in a leading sort of way that made Hitoshi hesitant to answer.
Ultimately Hitoshi nodded then raised his hands.
'Yes, but my control is limited to their physical ability, and they can't talk while under my control.' Hitoshi added.
Deku-Sensei hummed.
"Then I believe I'm correct in thinking your quirk has nothing to do with brainwashing and in an entirely different branch of trigger-based mental quirks, and that your quirk is most certainly hypnosis." Deku-Sensei said with a nod.
Hitoshi frowned, staring at Deku-Sensei confused.
'Trigger based mental quirk?' Hitoshi asked, focusing on that instead of the not brainwashing thing.
"Trigger-based mental quirks require an outside factor, or a 'trigger' to work." Deku-Sensei answered before elaborating.
"Think of your quirk like a bear trap or a mouse trap if that helps you mentally picture it. When you use your voice you set the trap, and when someone replies it's like they stepped into your trap 'triggering' it and giving you control." Deku-Sensei illustrated for Hitoshi.
Even going so far as to hold open his hand and then upon pressing the center of his palm, closed his hand around the finger.
Well, Hitoshi was used to his quirk being treated like a weapon or a curse, but this was the first time anyone outright called it something dangerous, like a bear trap.
"Whereas brainwashing is defined specifically by the lingering effects it has on a person and their psyche as well as controlling another person's thinking or behavior, hypnosis on the other hand is simply lulling someone into a trance." Deku-Sensei continued talking.
"From what I saw of you using your quirk earlier, I believe that you specifically are putting people into a trance that is similar to, or in fact actual sleepwalking." Deku-Sensei told him.
"You really think I'm making people sleepwalk?" Hitoshi couldn't help asking, his mouth running away from him before he could stop it.
Hitoshi winced expecting Deku-Sensei to switch over to sign at the very least, but without even a second of hesitation Deku-Sensei replied to him.
"Yes, the symptoms during and post being under your control all certainly align with sleepwalking induced via quirk-hypnosis." Deku-Sensei confirmed, brushing pass Hitoshi's shocked look and kept talking.
"When under your control people fall into unconsciousness in a comfortable haze barely aware of their surroundings, coming out of their daze confused like they were just waking up when your control is broken." Deku-Sensei described for him.
Hitoshi hardly had a moment to process what was being told to him, much less wonder who Deku-Sensei could have talked to for them to talk about being under his quirk so favorably before Deku-Sensei again kept talking.
"Tell me, did controlling Uraraka today feel strangely easier than during the exam?" Deku-Sensei asked.
Hitoshi merely stared back at the greenette, his shock letting another question slip pass his lips.
"How did you know?"
Deku-Sensei smiled, answering his question without blinking.
"Hypnosis historically is very dependent on how willing the person being hypnotized is to the process. So, it would only be natural that when someone who is aware of your quirk and wants to give over control, you would be able to control them with more finesse when their mind isn't fighting against you." Deku-Sensei explained.
Hitoshi's mouth opened, then closed and his eyes fell to his lap as he tried to wrap his head around everything.
His quirk wasn't… brainwashing? But if that was so clear cut why did everyone always call it brainwashing?
His father was a therapist himself for Pete's sake and probably knew something about hypnotism, right?
But then why did so much of his quirk line up with a hypnosis quirk instead of a brainwashing one then?
What would that even mean for him?
Well, having a hypnosis quirk probably wouldn't lead to people reacting nearly as badly to him, telling someone he could make them sleepwalk almost made his quirk sound sillier than it actually was.
Like he wasn't randomly hijacking someone's body.
Hesitantly Hitoshi raised his hands.
'Is there a way to test and see if I have a hypnosis quirk?' Hitoshi asked.
"Of course, due to many studies of hypnosis via quirks it will be very easy to prove your quirk is in fact a hypnosis based. We'll need a volunteer to scan their brainwaves while under your quirk, but I seriously doubt there would be any problem finding someone for that." Deku-Sensei confirmed easily.
"We can also use that day to test what other ways you can activate your quirk and what counts as a trigger for your quirk." Deku-Sensei happily commented.
'Activate my quirk?' Hitoshi asked feeling a little more lost.
"Your quirk is tied to your voice, not your words Shinsou so that means there might be other ways you can activate your quirk, possible even getting different results from how you take hold of someone." Deku-Sensei brought up.
"For instance, have you ever used your quirk while singing?" Deku-Sensei inquired his head tilted curiously.
Singing? Hitoshi hardly ever spoke most days much less sang.
What would his quirk do if he sang with it active? Would humming also bring up a different result?
Would there be a different result for every different thing that his voice could do?
"Not to mention it will be very important for us to codify exactly what your quirk needs to trigger it, like is a verbal reply of words strictly necessary, or would someone just hearing you be enough after some training to allow you control over them?" Deku-Sensei said next.
Hitoshi almost wanted to use his quirk on Deku-Sensei to make him shut up for a minute and allow him time to just process everything he was telling him because Hitoshi was barely keeping up at this point.
There was a possibility that he could train his quirk to the point that he would only need his voice to register for him to have control over them?
He guessed it was possible that he could, he'd never really used his quirk much so it was probably undertrained compared to most peoples.
Heck he didn't even know how long he could have someone under his control because he'd never been allowed to have his hold over anyone for a prolonged period of time.
Nor how many people he could hold before his brain would become strained.
Still, all of this was very overwhelmingly dumped on him and he'd very much like to just have a minute to think about it.
"Speaking of which, how often would you say you use your quirk? Your previous… counselors neglected to add that information to the notes they gave us." Deku-Sensei asked.
Oh, that was an easier question at least.
'I don't use my quirk much.' Hitoshi answered.
"Okay, for a frame of reference how many times have you used your quirk in the last month you would say?" Deku-Sensei questioned looking for more clarity.
'Just the eight times today Sensei.' Hitoshi replied, not even needing to think about it.
Deku-Sensei suddenly stilled; his eyes wide as he gawked at him.
"Shinsou," Deku-Sensei hesitantly said, like it took time to keep his voice neutral "In the last month you've only used your quirk eight times?"
Hitoshi raised an eye and nodded his head.
Deku-Sensei's body became very tense.
"Would… would you say that is the average amount of times you use your quirk per month?" Deku-Sensei questioned.
Hitoshi paused before shaking his head and raised his hands to elaborate before Deku-Sensei asked.
'I don't use my quirk often, I used my quirk more today than I have in years honestly.'
Deku-Sensei closed his eyes and took a very deep breath.
"What about quirk classes?" Deku-Sensei asked, the edge of… something lurking in his voice.
'No one would just let me brainwash them, they just had me step aside and marked me down for attending.' Hitoshi answered, though he was a touch off put by the sudden intensity in his teacher's focus.
"And at home?" Deku-Sensei pressed.
Hitoshi shook his head, shrinking back in his chair some as Deku-Sensei suddenly stood and walked over to a corner of the room.
The man's movement very stiff and controlled and he kept his face turned just so that Hitoshi couldn't see his face.
But judging from the very harsh muttering of some other language, Hitoshi thought that maybe that he said something wrong given there was a very good chance that his teacher was cursing or uttering death threats.
After a full minute Deku-Sensei's head fell back like he was looking to the heavens if his eyes weren't closed and took another very deep breath while moving his hands in signs that hadn't made sense to Hitoshi.
Then Deku-Sensei returned to his chair and looked back to him.
"Have you've been suffering from intense and recurring insomnia since your quirk manifested?" Deku-Sensei questioned, far more serious now than he was before.
Hitoshi almost didn't want to answer.
His head nodded very slightly, almost against his will answering for him.
Deku-Sensei nodded.
"We will have you come in for a brain scan along with a few others from your class, until then I'm going to prescribe you a high-dose sleep med which you'll start today and strongly encourage you to use your quirk at a minimum of twice a day for five minutes from now on, five times a day if you can manage it." Deku-Sensei instructed him.
Hitoshi's mouth fell open and closed deeply taken aback from Deku-Sensei reaction.
He wanted him to use his quirk? Daily?
Why?
"For mental quirks, weekly, if not daily use is a very big part in keeping your brain healthy. You not using your quirk is almost certainly why you haven't been able to sleep, frankly Shinsou in most cases where quirk use is that infrequent the person is left with permanent damage from atrophy in their brains." Deku-Sensei told him.
Oh.
Oh.
That sounded really bad.
Hitoshi's stomach twisted somewhat as the words settled in Hitoshi's mind.
Was his brain really rotting because he hadn't used his quirk?
That was a thing?
Hitoshi flinched when he felt something hit his arm and looked down to see what hit him, though it became obvious as soon as he did.
He was crying.
"Shinsou, what do you need?" Deku-Sensei softly asked him, not moving to get any closer to him.
Hitoshi didn't know, he was hardly thinking and his mind was just spinning.
"Hitoshi?" Deku-Sensei called again.
He didn't want to think about anything.
"Kiri… " Hitoshi whimpered.
Guilt almost choked him when he said that.
Here he was breaking down and the person he asked for wasn't his parents or even the brother that supported him every step of the way despite being in on a different side of the planet in a different time zone.
But Kirishima was here.
Deku-Sensei didn't hesitate to move to the door and poke his head out.
Kirishima crashed to his side before Hitoshi even knew it.
His friend's ridged arms wrapped around him, allowing him to ground himself somewhat and Hitoshi buried his head in Kirishima's chest.
Kirishima was talking with Deku-Sensei, probably about him but Hitoshi just couldn't make anything out.
Hitoshi was almost thankful for it because he didn't want to deal with that on top of everything else.
He already felt like he was drowning with what was told to him.
Hitoshi didn't want to think about it.
At least he could just focus on Kirishima right now, his friend's hand running down his back like one would pet a cat.
Hitoshi really wished he could have a cat right now.
Maybe Koda would call one up for him if Kirishima asked really, really nicely, like Koda had for the quirk test.
He hoped Koda would.
Petting a cat would be so much better than thinking about how his parents played a part in forcing his brain to rot.
Or that everyone else in his life other than his brother actively played a part in possibly destroying his mind.
His mom was a surgeon, maybe the brain wasn't what she studied in depth but she had to know what that muzzle did to him right?
Hitoshi buried his face even more to Kirishima's boney shoulder, trying to force the thought out of his mind.
He didn't want to think about it.
He didn't want to think about anything.
Shouto found his glare traveling over to the clock hung on the wall and saw he had been there for roughly two hours now.
His scowl deepened as another wave of irritation rolled over him.
He had not wanted to be here, Aizawa-Sensei however had been very clear how coming to see Deku-Sensei wasn't negotiable.
Shouto couldn't stop himself from a scoff as he remembered the 'letter' sent to him.
He wondered how much pressure Endeavor must have given to have this whole farce arranged.
Sure, Endeavor had tried to 'convince' him to use his bastard fire before with the words of quirk 'experts' to scare him.
Arrogant bastard.
It hadn't worked the first time, or the fifth so he didn't know why Endeavor would bother with this once again.
The warnings they gave had not fallen on deaf ears, Shouto was well aware that he'd possibly suffer from nerve damage from the many episodes of frostbite he'd give himself if he didn't use the fire Endeavor passed down to him.
Spite however, was a very powerful motivator.
Touya taught both him and Natsuo that, Natsuo used to spite Endeavor by refusing to ever quietly disappear like the man wanted.
Shouto would refuse to give any more of himself over, to allow Endeavor to carve anymore of himself into the masterpiece that he been born for.
Deku-Sensei would not change that.
Touya died for him and Shouto would never spit it the face of that by giving into the whims of the man who killed him.
Shouto's eyes fell to his feet and his right hand clenched his left arm.
Touya was lost to him forever, Fuyumi trapped within her own version of reality, Natsuo though was simply exiled and perhaps maybe one day Shouto could find him again.
He had only known that reconnection was possible because of the tiny note Fuyumi had been reluctant to give him.
Knowing he hadn't cost Natsuo his future as a doctor had been very cold comfort in the face of Natsuo being disowned, and forever cut off from Endeavor's money and resources outside of reputation.
The sound of the door opening had become familiar at this point, and Shouto's eyes went over to the area where the door was.
He expected for the last of the 1-A to leave with Deku-Sensei to ask for him next.
Instead Deku-Sensei had only just poked his head out.
"Kirishima, we need you for a second." Deku-Sensei said.
'Kirishima', whom Shouto had forgotten was still here, was up and on his feet in seconds.
Hn, Deku-Sensei had not asked anyone else to come in when he was already with someone, but that might have been because of the nature of the quirk Shouto recalled the taller of the purple boys having.
That thought was wiped away when the two 1-A students came out of the room only minutes later.
Deku-Sensei came out first and ducked behind the curtain where Recovery Girl was sitting processing the blood samples.
Kirishima oddly enough came out carrying the other boy, the purple-haired boy's face buried firmly in Kirishima's shoulder as if to block out the rest of the world.
Shouto's heart twisted at the sight.
Many memories of Touya flickered in his mind, he often carried Shouto like Kirishima did when Touya had managed to get him away from Endeavor's laborious training.
As precious those memories were, they stung him.
Because they reminded him just how little he knew his oldest brother.
Shouto wasn't even sure what Touya's favorite color was… if he had one.
He wasn't sure if he had a favorite color.
Fuyumi asked him that when he was getting ready to move to the dorms.
"Todoroki," someone called and as much as it irked him, Shouto turned to see Deku-Sensei.
"I'm sorry for the wait, or would you prefer to be called Shouto?" Deku-Sensei asked.
Shouto paused at that.
He had accepted he'd be forced to answer to Endeavor's name, it hadn't been a choice before, but if possible Shouto would not answer to the bastard's name.
"Shouto." He answered.
Deku-Sensei nodded "Alright, Shouto would you come with me then? I'm sure you'd like to get this over and done with sooner rather than later." Deku-Sensei requested.
Shouto would like to get this over with, he'd only just finished placing down the new flooring and would like to at least get his bed ready before supper time came around.
The room wasn't that impressive, and he sat down on one of the chairs, waiting for the man to sit down and begin the normal spiel.
"So, Shouto I believe you probably have a decent idea of why I asked you to come here today, right?" Deku-Sensei said as he pulled out a notebook.
Shouto huffed.
It was obvious why he was there.
"Good, now your quirk is officially listed as being half hot-half cold, and regarded as two separate quirks, each only accessible on one side of your body." Deku-Sensei recounted easily, though his mouth was tugged down in a frown.
Shouto waited for the usual reprimand for not using the bastard's fire.
"And if I'm being frank with you Shouto, that is impossible, and you do not have two quirks." Deku-Sensei told him.
Shouto blinked and stared at the man across from him.
This… Had not been what Shouto expected him to say, nor could he understand what Deku-Sensei's angle would be telling him that.
How could this man come to such a conclusion or think any would agree with him? Yes he didn't use Endeavor's fire often, but it burned under his skin of his left side, while his mother's ice chilled the right.
The two were nothing alike.
"Given you can make both fire and ice, I can understand on a surface level why most would think you have two, but I severely doubt you do carry two separate quirks," Deku-Sensei said holding his hand up placatingly.
Like he expected Shouto to protest what he was saying.
"Even with the idea of chimerism, your body wouldn't be so unevenly mixed that two sides would exist in the first place." Deku-Sensei informed him.
"What do you mean?" Shouto questioned.
Deku-Sensei pulled out three papers with human silhouettes.
"To put it simply, there are two 'kinds' of chimerism Shouto. The first is when a twin is absorbed and remains as a concentrated mass somewhere in the body of the developed twin, and then there are two breeds of chimerism in the same fashion, one of which you most likely have." Deku-Sensei explained.
Deku-Sensei pointed to the first of the three pictures, one with a human shape in black that had a small cluster which was the under-developed twin in white.
"Where the two instead of eating each other, sort of fuse together and become one person to the point until they're actually one person with two sets of DNA, which does allow for some visible tells such as different hair and eyes colors like you have." Deku-Sensei further elaborated.
Pointing to the second picture, where instead the human shape was mainly grey with a gradient of sorts and bits and pieces where the grey was lighter or darker.
"Neither breed will leave a person where they are basically one half of two people attached to each other right down the middle, which is what your last counselor would want me to believe given their… notes." Deku-Sensei said with some disdain as he looked at the notebook.
And Deku-Sensei motioned to the last of the pictures which just the where white and black were in equal halves form a single human shape with no bleed over or grey.
"But I have two quirks." Shouto pointed out.
"No, you can manipulate molecules to the point of creating spontaneous combustion or freezing the surrounding carbon into dry ice." Deku-Sensei corrected.
Shouto blinked, and Deku-Sensei took that and his silence as reason to further explain.
"I'm sure you're familiar with how the speed of molecules could possibly create either hot or cold, from what I can observe of your quirk, you mentally manipulate the surrounding molecules to create either fire or ice." Deku-Sensei explained.
"Though your parents could only manipulate molecules in their own respective extremes, their genes were able to come together in a way that allowed you the ability to manipulate them to both extremes." Deku-Sensei added.
"But I can't make ice from my left." Shouto countered.
"Have you tried with your left?" Deku-Sensei asked back.
Shouto opened his mouth to confirm that, only to stop as he looked back through his memories.
He couldn't recall ever trying to use his mother's ice through his left side.
"No, but my left side has always run hot and my right cold." Shouto replied.
"That is likely a psychosomatic response to how you've perceived yourself and been seen by others." Deku-Sensei answered, lightly waving his hand.
"A… psychosomatic response?" Shouto carefully said, the word utterly unfamiliar to him.
"The saying mind over matter has a lot more truth than people with think, especially for mental quirks." Deku-Sensei commented.
"If you'd like an example, a person might be unable to walk properly even after making a full physical recovery because of the trauma of their attack or accident." Deku-Sensei illustrated, before pointing to Shouto.
"Likely because of the coloring of your hair and eyes, people assumed that one side could do this, and the other side must do that. It's the kind of logic most children come to." Deku-Sensei stated.
Shouto, supposed that was true as he looked down at his lap.
The left side of his body had Endeavor's coloration and his right a mirror of his mother, it… just made sense that the quirks pasted down to him would come from the respective sides that reflected the parent it came from.
Didn't it?
"Perhaps from the many years of how you used your quirk the two sides of your body have become more used to hot or cold, but ultimately that doesn't change the fact that you can do both from either side of your body." Deku-Sensei informed him.
Shouto considered what Deku-Sensei said and looked down to his left hand.
Could his mother's ice come from this hand?
"While this might be a shock to you Shouto, but I have strong reason to believe this will be true and the blood test can confirm that, the way you can re-stabilize your body's whole temperate after using intense fire or ice usage is another big sign of your quirk only being one and not two." Deku-Sensei said next.
"Really?" Shouto asked.
"Yes, watching the thermal camera footage it can be clearly seen that upon re-heating, your right-side is the part that lights up first not the left, and spreads throughout before settling back into the 'split' your brain thinks should be there." Deku-Sensei confirmed with a nod.
Deku-Sensei even went as far as pulling out a phone and showing off some colored footage.
A figure which had to be him in the footage given that the human shape was red-hot on one side and dark blue on the other while the rest of the screen was purple.
His body became fully blue when he used his quirk for the long jump, and when it came time to heat himself up, watched that yes, his body did start turning red from within the right side of his body, then back to the half and half just as Deku-Sensei described.
Shouto felt his stomach turn slightly as the weight of the footage settled in his mind.
If his mother's ice wasn't separate from Endeavor's fire then what did that make the quirk passed on to him?
"I believe it would be best that your quirk is re-named to something like 'Thermodynamics' given you have the ability to make both extremes and everything in between probably." Deku-Sensei told him, almost like he could read Shouto's mind.
To be fair Deku-Sensei might, Shouto might have heard his father ranting about this man in specific for the last year, but he didn't recall the details of those rants far too used to tuning Endeavor's words.
He could absolutely see the bastard complaining over a young mental-quirked civilian teaching the hero course, especially since the greenette man was the teaching his former homeroom of A.
"Would that be okay Shouto? Or would you like some time to think of a new name for your quirk?" Deku-Sensei asked.
Shouto took a minute to understand what had been said, needing to recall the sentence before he got lost in thought in order to find an answer.
"I… think I'll take some time to decide." Shouto told the man.
Deku-Sensei nodded, accepting that with little fight.
"That is perfectly fine, we can move on to how you're doing with your control." Deku-Sensei said.
Shouto's started frowning.
Part of him should have expected this, the one quirk speech was probably a way to throw him off guard.
"You've used your ice more from what I've seen, so how hard would you say it is to make ice in the form of a specific structure, like say… could you make a bird shaped statue?" Deku-Sensei inquired.
Shouto hesitated.
"I don't know, I've never made something like that." Shouto answered.
He'd made large pillars of ice and even made icy paths, even massive glaciers when he practiced outside.
"That's okay, we can work on making smaller things during your time here, but you've made pillars yes?" Deku-Sensei asked.
Shouto nodded.
"Okay, the ice you made earlier was rough and jagged. Could you make a pillar that is smooth like it was carved from an ice block?" Deku-Sensei followed up with.
"No." Shouto admitted.
"Hm, we'll probably need to work on your finer control then, it might be harder to make smooth or polished structures, but it will take less out of you to do so." Deku-Sensei said writing in his notebook.
"Where would you say you're at with your fire?" Deku-Sensei asked next.
"I'm not going to use his fire." Shouto spat almost reflexively, his body tense.
Deku-Sensei blinked back.
"That's fine, but that doesn't really answer my question Shouto." Deku-Sensei replied.
Shouto's mouth opened then closed.
Deku-Sensei, wasn't going to press him to use Endeavor's fire?
Perhaps seeing his confusion, or reading his mind Deku-Sensei spoke up again.
"If you want to make the executive choice to not use your fire at all as a hero, no one will force you to do so otherwise." Deku-Sensei told him.
Then what was the point of bringing him in to speak with him?
"However, even if you never use your fire during your hero career, you shouldn't remain untrained with using the fire part of your quirk Shouto, especially in the case of an emergency and you are left with no choice." Deku-Sensei commented next.
"There's nothing I couldn't deal that I can't handle with my ice." Shouto argued back with a huff.
"I will never use his fire." Shouto added sharply.
Deku-Sensei hummed, folding his hand in his lap.
"So, what will you tell a mother when you let her child die of hypothermia?" Deku-Sensei asked.
"What?" Shouto muttered, staring at the man shocked.
"There are plenty of villains out there, including those with ice quirks like your maternal family, not to mention blizzards, flash floods and typhoons which can leave victims in a state where they'll desperately need heat." Deku-Sensei told him.
"People whom you can help by making small, controlled fires or heating their bodies directly through skin to skin contact with some training. Not to mention the many other ways you can utilize your fire in emergency situations with the correct training." Deku-Sensei further explained, his hand coming up to hold his chin.
"Honestly, with some training I think you could become a very capable rescue hero in your own right." Deku-Sensei openly mused.
Shouto found himself slightly off as he processed all that Deku-Sensei said.
He knew that not everyone could deal with the cold as well as he could, but the idea of using Endeavor's fire to warm others from a natural disaster had… not occurred to him before now.
Well, not beyond freeing criminals he caught in his mother's ice anyways.
But it was the idea of himself being a rescue hero at all that was throwing him the most off guard.
"What do you mean?" Shouto tentatively asked.
"Have you ever heard of a blowtorch?" Deku-Sensei brought up, Shouto nodded his head.
One of Endeavor's sidekicks was named that, so he knew the word even if its exact meaning was lost on him.
"Well, they're used by rescue heroes in order to cut through metal, like say rebar or a car roof in order to reach or remove injured civilians, something you can do as well if you were able to train your body to make a small, concentrated flame from your finger." Deku-Sensei proposed, holding up just a single finger.
Shouto's eyes went wide.
"Or you could be a massive help in putting out and controlling wild fires if you are able to manipulate fire outright like your maternal grandfather could make his ice move." Deku-Sensei suggested next.
"I… I could do that?" Shouto questioned.
Deku-Sensei nodded.
"Of course," Deku-Sensei confirmed.
"Despite what most people think, not all fire heroes need to, or have to work like Endeavor." Deku-Sensei told him, rolling his eyes as he said Endeavor's name.
"No offense, but he is actually a very poor example of fire quirks in heroics in general and I quite hope you don't follow in his footsteps." Deku-Sensei said next shocking Shouto.
Shouto couldn't help staring at Deku-Sensei stunned.
Sure, he knew there were people who didn't like Endeavor as a hero, but to have someone directly call him a bad hero outright in spite of his rank as the number two hero for so long was…
It was just unreal to him.
"Can, can you tell me more?" Shouto asked, still in slight disbelief of what was happening.
"There are many ways to use your fire Shouto, and I can even suggest some heroes for you to look up if you're curious. I would strongly recommend searching for the number one hero of India, Lotus Flame as she is a perfect example of a fire-quirked rescue hero." Deku-Sensei informed him.
Lotus Flame? That name felt vaguely familiar, if she was India's number one hero then he might of heard her name before at the parties Endeavor dragged him to but wasn't actively paying attention.
"Having a fire aspect of your quirk doesn't limit you to just shooting out flames like a flame-thrower, Endeavor is just a spectacularly uncreative and unoriginal hero that seems uninterested in anything other than the combative side of fire quirks." Deku-Sensei assured him.
The corner of Shouto's mouth quirked upwards for a second when Deku-Sensei said that, he could almost hear Touya or Natsuo saying that about Endeavor.
"You do know that, don't you?" Deku-Sensei asked, suddenly looking a bit more concerned as he looked at him.
A look that he'd seen on Natsuo's face before and the reminder made his previous thoughts fade a bit more easily.
Shouto ducked his head, and rubbed his arm.
"Endeavor's training was rather, focused." Shouto confessed.
Deku-Sensei huffed, and he face-palmed.
"I don't know why I'm surprised… " Deku-Sensei muttered, likely not intending for Shouto to hear him.
"Then I'm guessing Endeavor hasn't taught you anything other than his combat moves when it came to your fire?" Deku-Sensei inquired.
"He… tried to. I wasn't very co-operative." Shouto admitted.
Deku-Sensei nodded.
"Then I think it will be best to start your training with the fire part from the very beginning since I severely doubt Endeavor's training was the correct way." Deku-Sensei told him.
Shouto was about to protest but Deku-Sensei closed his notebook with an audible clap, then to look down at his wrist where a watch was and hummed.
"I think it'll be best to stop here, we can talk more about your quirk later Shouto, we covered everything major, and I'll need to talk with Aizawa-San about arranging your quirk counseling sessions." Deku-Sensei said as he stood up and headed for the door.
Shouto felt a bit annoyed at the swift dismissal and frowned, but accepted it.
Standing up himself and following Deku-Sensei.
"Besides, I wouldn't want to keep you knowing there's someone else waiting on you." Deku-Sensei commented with a shrug.
Shouto frowned.
There wasn't anyone waiting on him and he was about to say so when the door opened, and his breath was ripped right out of him upon hearing two voices talking.
There was no way.
Shouto walked out of the room swiftly and to the voices that came from on the other side of the curtain.
Only to freeze.
For there in front of him stood Natsuo, wearing causal clothes and leaning on the desk Recovery Girl was using as his brother seemed to speak with the woman.
"Nii-San?" Shouto quietly asked.
Results of the sessions prt3
Shishida: Do I really need to eat more prey?
Deku-Sensei: Do you want to be the furry hulk?
Rikidio: I wonder if I could make a suger cane leaf tea...
Deku-Sensei: Oh, that sounds good and would like to try it too
Hitoshi: T~T
Deku-Sensei: I'm getting the emotional support human cause I am five seconds from loing my sh*t
Shouto: I will not use my fire
Deku-Sensei: okay
Shouto: Didn't my father pay you off?
Deku-Sensei: nope, but Natsuo did
Shouto: Big brother here?!